Palma City Council has decided to suspend the performance of the play Nua after the arrival of the PP in the municipal government. The protagonist of the work, Ann Perelló, has denounced on social networks that the City Council has informed them that the work is suspended because it does not fit with the new model sought by the new cultural managers. The City Council has sent a statement in which it denies it and attributes the cancellation to the fact that they have found themselves with an exhausted budget.
The play is a reflection on eating disorders and has been performed in various theaters in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia. She has been nominated for the Max Awards for Best New Author. The work investigates how society imposes models of beauty and bodies on men and women, how these canons affect society, from a critical perspective.
The work is a co-production of the Teatre Principal de Palma with the leading actress, Ann Perelló, and it is a show included in the Professional Music and Performing Arts Market of the Balearic Islands, Fira B. In addition to being nominated for the Max, Ann Perelló won the Best Actress Award granted by ATAPIB, Association of Theaters and Public Auditoriums of the Balearic Islands.
“On Friday they told us that the three functions of Nua in Mallorca would not be done because it is not the line of shows that they will program with the new changes in the Government,” Perelló wrote on Twitter. “I wonder what line they will schedule and, above all, I wonder if they know that eating disorders and the pain that is associated with these disorders and mental health in general does not understand parties or politics,” he adds.
Palma City Council states in a statement that the suspension has nothing to do with the content of the work, but rather with budgetary issues. He adds that there was no formalized contract, but only a reserve, and points out that the new municipal team has found itself with the entire budget for this year already committed “and the amount available is not enough to meet all the reserves that have not been made.” formalized”.
He assures that, for this reason, the indicated dates have had to be released and announces that it will be rescheduled in the first quarter of the year, when there is a budget. The general director of Music and Performing Arts, Rafel Brunet, points out in the statement that the work has not been suspended for ideological reasons: “It is a great work and it has been evident since it has obtained different recognitions and awards.”
The suspension has triggered a great controversy in the Balearic Islands and the former president of the Government Francina Armengol regrets that “censorship” has been installed in the Balearic Islands. Leaders of Més per Mallorca, such as the deputy Ferran Rosa, have also criticized this decision. “Freedom should be drinking beer and censoring artists,” he has written. Various cultural groups from the islands have also joined the protests.